Tech

Apr 3, 2013

Blocking Social Applications

Saudi Arabia might ban a few applications like the popular WhatsApp, Skype, and Viber (I always wondered why they never banned Viber in Saudi Arabia since it is/was made by an Israeli company).

The reason… security, that is it basically, those applications became very popular even though there are many other applications that do the same thing, but somehow, these became the apps to have and communicate with… why? well thats a question for Seth Godin.

This is not new of course, in 2010 I wrote about the blackberry messenger ban which was almost banned in Saudi (and China and India and others) but then RIM caved in, no one wants to lose money, and no government wants to lose the control it feels it has over what it can hear through the grapevine… especially if it is about “them guessing how they knew, about someone’s plans to make them blue” (sorry Marvin Gay for playing with the lyrics)

Of course cartoonist Jabertoon (Facebook page) got creative with the subject of the hour and produced three funny cartoons.

A man communicating with his love while the “man” is watching and laughing.

Cyber law is keeps on evolving with technology, and you know how fast that goes and changes these days… and how slow governments around the world are to make legislations for anything.

Oct 17, 2012

That’s How I didn’t buy a Nook

Qusay Books, Tech 2 Comments

A few months ago, I wanted to buy an e-book reader. So I went online and did my research, and settled for the Barnes & Noble “NOOK Simple Touch™ with GlowLight™“, I like to read until I fall asleep, and most often I find myself reading way beyond the time I planned for a good restful sleep.

I bought it directly from the B&N website, easy and smooth transaction, then waited for a couple of weeks. The tracking always showed nothing, so I contacted B&N asking where it was, and the reply was, it is on its way.
Another week passed, and I contacted the shipping company, they said they have not received it from B&N, and I go back to B&N and now they said they will investigate.
The investigation concluded that it was lost from B&N’s side, and they are further investigating the matter, and came back telling me it is registered in someone’s name in NY and if I know him. Of course I don’t, unless I knew someone inside B&N who could intercept the device before it gets to the shipping company, too much drama for something like that, besides it is not an easy thing to do really.
I asked for a refund, as I did not want it anymore, too much negativity from the way I was treated, and B&N said they will get back to me shortly. A week passed, I send a reminder… no reply.
I send an email to Paypal, which is how I paid B&N, told them about the situation, and in less than a week my money was refunded.
The funny thing is, B&N then sent me an email saying they have investigated the matter and will issue a refund, and how do I like their service… well, I did not like it at all.

Now I plan to buy the Kindle Paperwhite, once they are available again that is.

E-book readers are not available in Saudi Arabia, understandably they are only gateways to the market of their makers, and those guys do not operate in Arabia, nor is there a big market for books… we only have iPads and Samsung tablets.

Oct 13, 2012

SAS-AiChE Western Region

Qusay News, Tech 4 Comments

Today, with the help of my colleagues at work, I officially started a Chapter of The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AiChE) for the Western Region of Saudi Arabia.

The chapter is a section of SAS-AiChE which is currently only active in the Eastern Province where the major companies are located, however, since Yanbu is an Industrial City with major companies and is growing, it is time for profesional societies and organizations to start, flourish and exchange knowledge.

The chapter was just announced today, and I am extremely proud of the fact that I am a part of it.

Oct 9, 2011

TEDxArabia 2011

Qusay Art, Culture, Saudi, Tech, Women 5 Comments

I was invited by Big_Hass to attended TEDxArabia on Thursday October 6th 2011, and I am glad I attended, it was interesting to say the least. The Theme of the event was “Live Your Dream”.

Registration was a bit lost, cards were everywhere, and… they couldn’t find the one with my name on it (or my friend Hameed’s card)

I did miss the first part due to me being late, but I didn’t miss much I guess.

Some talks were great, some were boring, and when the rep of the “angel sponsor” (Nestle) started talking, she almost made me hate coffee.

My friend Hassan gave a nice talk about hip-hop and what it should represent (hint: it is not the garbage on mainstream media, it’s a little more like this, or this). My friend Aziz Hamza also gave a presentation about a new iphone/ipad application of hijazi proverbs his company developed.

Ahmad Almehairy, gave one of the most memorable talks of the evening, encouraging small business, and encouraging investors to invest in small businesses. After checking him out online, it turns out he is a VP of a “Private Wealth Management Office LMC invests in Venture Capital, Real Estate & Public Equities. Slogan: Investing for the prosperity of our nation” so basically it was a sales pitch… most of the talks were somewhat more or less sales pitches.

The Smile of Swords as she translated her name (Dr. Basma Alseyofi) was also a very energetic and motivating speaker who wrote a few books and serves as a consultant on many governmental projects.

The nice thing about the event was a live music performance by a group called AlFarabi, who performed their song “story of a king” their musical style was fusion, the song was in Arabic, you can check out a studio version here.

There is a new cartoon coming out about the companions of the prophet, the main hero of the cartoon is the companion Bilal, a freed African slave and the first caller of the athan. The interesting thing is that they used forensic art to find what Bilal and his wife, and other companions looked like, which would be more authentic than seeing a light skinned actor with blackface playing the part as they usually do in films and series about the period.

I am also excited about a new art gallery which will take place in Jeddah in January 2012, I forgot the name, but not the date

All in all it was a good event, thanks to big Hass for inviting me, and thanks for the organizers of the event for making it all possible, it was way better than the videos I saw of last year’s event, and I know if it is done next year, it will be even better… and I hope I get an invitation to the event next year also… either that or I am giving a talk… the last guy on stage gave a talk because he updated a page on “the definition of genius” on Wikipedia.

There was also a moment of silence while standing up for the passing away of Steve Jobs, who without his vision, none of this would’ve probably been possible.

Jun 19, 2011

My Life in Instagram

Qusay Art, iPhone 8 Comments

I have to first admit that I got this idea from Samaher Tariq, she did this on her blog, and I thought it was a good idea

In the past few weeks, I haven’t been using my camera as much as I want, that is part in due to my newly found addiction of instagram, and the good quality pictures I can take using my iPhone, but also because now I can edit them anywhere I am.

Here are my favorite pictures that I captured in the past few weeks.

I saw this guy sitting after the friday prayer on a bench on Jeddah’s Corniche, I stopped the car, and hoped he wouldn’t move before I could take the picture I saw in my mind.

Ghadafi really made an impression on the world with his dar-dar zenga-zenga speach, there is even a zenga zenga burger now

My friends at RedSandAV invited me to a video shoot, I enjoyed the experience, thanks guys

Jeddah has a few mosques on the corniche, this is one of the small ones.

We went to Makkah, and as I was trying to get the kabaa and the clock tower in the same shot, a little girl decided to sit there, her parents were sitting next to us, so no, she was not lost. I tried to use the slowshutter app, but without a tripod, I could not leave the shutter open long enough to get things which were in motion to be blurry, and things which are stationary to be sharp.

Ice Cream at a newly opened “stickhouse” all sorbet, but some chocolate and some vanilla.

Many of the new supermarkets have a “spice market” area, this was one of them.

I finally got my self off the couch, and started running/jogging/walking again, this is where I run on Jeddah’s corniche, luckily no one was in the picture, because it is usually not this empty.

And of course, we have American franchises like almost any American city.

I hope you enjoyed this

Jun 10, 2011

Saudi Solar Energy

Qusay Saudi, Tech 0 Comment

I am extremely glad to read this piece of information, Saudi Arabia plans to be the Saudi Arabia of Solar Energy. Which says that Saudi Arabia will export energy to Europe

This means that solar would make up the other 80% of energy demands that the nuclear plants won’t make.

According to Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi “Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has the potential by 2020 to produce enough solar power to meet more than four times global demand for electricity”

More solar energy falls on the Earth each day than the total amount of energy the world consumed in the last 25 years, and there were plans to build solar arrays in the North African Sahara for Europe to use, but that requires a huge investment, and seeing how things are going there now… and who has the capital investment to actually carry it out, I am even happier to see Saudi invest the money this way.

I really think that this is really ambitious, 2020 is 9 years away… I hope it happens, I pray that it does.

Wait… Why then are we building nuclear plants for 20% of our projected demands when we would have power to export? To be better than the Joneses across the gulf? Or to keep some nuclear engineers and operators employed?

Apr 11, 2011

Saudi Websites Sold For Millions

Qusay Tech 0 Comment

It is happening now, not in the future, that is why google itself is investing in the market, other companies are investing and buying websites, and that is just the beginning, it is forecasted to grow exponentially.

Remember a couple of months ago, when the ministry of information released a list to regulate online content? Well, it is clear now why they are doing it, no government/tax man will let you operate and make money without taking a cut. There is a 2.5% tax when selling land, there is the Islamic Zakah for merchants, there was never anything for online content.

Riyadh newspaper wrote that a few sites and forums have been acquired by a large venture capital, I personally know an engineer who has/is working in these sites, that quit his day job to continue working full-time on that site.

I also heard from a reliable source that another Saudi internet site was sold for 7 million Saudi Riyals recently.

As two things are certain, death and taxes (even in countries where there is no tax, you still get taxed somehow) you think they like not having a share of these deals? Not gonna happen.

Even google wants a piece of the Arabian sites pie, they set up an office in Dubai, and have been active in recruiting and helping and funding online projects, it’s big business now, and the bubble is yet to form.

That is why, bloggers do not need to register, no one wants to buy a blog, but have a site with a service, then it is a different story. Even sheiks now are talking about iPads.

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